The White House today solicited public recommendations for greater openness in government.
“Members of the public are invited to participate in the process of developing recommendations [by] offering comments, ideas, and proposals about possible initiatives and about how to increase openness and transparency in government,” according to a notice published in the Federal Register today.
“Comments may address law, policy, technology, culture, and practice on issues such as: What government information should be more readily available on-line or more easily searched? How might the operations of government be made more transparent and accountable?… What alternative models exist to improve the quality of decisionmaking and increase opportunities for citizen participation? What are the limitations to transparency?” Comments are due by June 19.
This request for public comments itself already represents an advance over past practice, because it is based on an official consensus in favor of increasing openness. “Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing,” President Obama stated on January 21. “Public engagement enhances the Government’s effectiveness and improves the quality of its decisions,” he said.
These principles, having been affirmed by the President, no longer need to be debated. Instead, the question is how to realize them in practice.
Today’s Federal Register notice was signed by John P. Holdren, the White House science adviser. Holdren was formerly a chairman of the Federation of American Scientists and was also, years ago, a professor of mine at UC Berkeley.
This is bigger than a singular elimination of race and ethnicity questions. It could accelerate the second wave of widespread reductions to demographic data, leaving public health officials with even less information to deliver better health outcomes for all Americans.
Soft law was never meant to be a permanent solution. Treating it as one, and letting the sandcastle stand in for the skyscraper indefinitely, is how we end up with a decade of voluntary commitments and no enforceable accountability to show for it.
FAS has partnered with ICLEI USA to launch the CRI Local Advisory Council.
We sat down with Dr. Max Moritz and Chief Rob Hazard to discuss how communities use time, money, and data to reduce the risk that wildfires pose.